Light micrograph of cartilage from normal human rib (costal cartilage). Hyaline cartilage is a pliable and fairly hard connective tissue, consisting of cells lying within a matrix which they have produced. This picture shows the change in structure as cartilage develops; from small chondroblasts, the dense purple units, top, to larger groupings of cells, chondrones, at bottom. Each cell or cell group is surrounded by a clear region, the lacuna. The matrix consists of fibres of collagen mixed with an acidic polysaccharide. This combination gives the cartilage its resilient physical qualities. Magnification x20 at 35mm size